Matrix Oil says quick drilling at N. Sumatra exploration well

Drilling of Australia's Matrix Oil NL's West Kambuna-1 exploration well in Asahan technical assistance contract (TAC) area offshore North Sumatra is proceeding much faster than anticipated, Matrix Managing Director Brian Hockney was quoted by Dow Jones as saying Tuesday.

The well spudded Thursday and already is half way to its planned 8,200-feet total depth, he said.

The company originally planned for 21 days drilling to reach total depth, but if progress continues at current rates, drilling time could be halved.

"By about Monday of next week, we'll know where we are," Hockney told Dow Jones Newswires. "It's going through it like butter."

"The shales and the sands that we're going through are great indicators and very positive for us," he added.

West Kambuna-1 is designed to test a major seismically defined structural/stratigraphic trap that has been mapped as extending north and west from the Kambuna discovery, about 4.5 kilometers east northeast.

"Potential reserves in the prospect have been estimated as being 2 to 3 trillion cubic feet of gas plus 150 to 200 million barrels of liquids," Matrix said in a recent statement.

The well, being drilled by the Sedoc 601 semi-submersible drilling unit, is located in 120 feet of water, about 30 kilometers from the coast of North Sumatra. (*)